The Morning After The Night Before, LVXII

I have no idea where to start. So let’s just dive right in, shall we? And I hope you all appreciate the time of this post, it’s the middle of the night there, it’s two hours earlier here and I’m still not entirely certain what time we get home. But it’ll be nice to be there for a day or so.

Three Things I Learned

I Don’t Know What To Say

That might have been the ugliest five minutes of point guard play of the season, maybe since Rafer was here. But what do you do? Can’t trade him. Can’t play Jose 48 minutes a night. Can’t use Darrick Martin every game. Carlos Delfino can’t make a shot.

DOUGLAS C. PIZAC/ASSOCIATED PRESS

T.J. Ford, wearing St. Paddy's Day green, is restrained by teammates during the fourth quarter of Toronto's 96-79 loss to the Utah Jazz March 17. Ford was teched up and ejected.

Talked to a couple of guys on the way out, coaches and players, and the feeling was they’ve got to get T.J. right, somehow. Quickly.

My opinion? He’s not handling being a backup well and I think he knows he’s a second stringer for as long as he remains in Toronto. He’s hurt, his emotional state isn’t good and he doesn’t know how to handle it. The explosion at the ref had as much to do with the last two weeks as it did the preceding five minutes.

This is going to be the biggest challenge of Sam Mitchell’s coaching career, he’s got to get to T.J. and make him understand they need him to be steady, not spectacular, not a one-man show. Who knows if Sam’s up to it.

Maybe last night was indeed rock bottom, I know listening to T.J. right after the game he knew what he’d done, felt bad and I’m sure he’s hurting today.

But this is what it is: he has to play some, he has to play better or this season’s gonna degenerate into a mess of biblical proportions.

It’s not too late to salvage something (one scout I talked to on the trip figures these guys come home, win a bunch of games in April, finish sixth, beat Orlando in the first round) but time is running out.

It’s on the coach and T.J.’s teammates to get to him.

-

A strange crowd reaction

Here’s the difference between Salt Lake and Toronto. The visitors are making a run, cutting the halftime lead to 52-51 and you know what would have happened in Toronto, right. Boos. Probably lots of them. What happened in Utah? The fans started cheering louder. Same thing at the end of quarter, after Raptors tie it.

I guarantee you that never happens in the Air Canada Centre.

-

Out of consideration

All right, I know he got hurt a couple of weeks ago against Dallas and is likely still banged up but after watching Andrei Kirilenko last night, I’m putting him far down the list of guys the Raptors should pursue this summer. In fact, he might drop all the way off it.

-

As I’m sure you can imagine, the mailbag was littered with T.J. rants last night (I’d say there’s 25 in there now and it’s about 11:30 out here). All good opinions, many well put but really no questions that I can answer better than I did before.

So, let’s check out some other mail:

Q: So I remember Bosh said that he was trying to improve his three point shooting, so basically he'll be a big that can shoot...like Bargnani. So why don't the Raps do the opposite for AB7 (doesn't quite work) and make him adapt Bosh's style play. I know the team IS working on his post game, but all I see is Andrea trying to run around his defender and occasionally shoot over them. Whereas Bosh's game is more like dribbling left and right, left and right then spinning around the defender to the cup or he does a fade-away jumper. I think it's easier to teach Bargnani this slower style rather than him picking up offensive fouls or travelling all the time. What are your thoughts?

Veronica S, Winnipeg

A: I think they should take more advantage of Bargnani on the low block, actually. He’s not fluid enough right now to catch the ball mid-block and square his man up but when he gets a small guarding him, they have to put him down on the block and let him operate.

He’s done it a couple of times, he seems to be a good enough passer to handle a double-team.

Bargnani’s got a lot to learn and post play isn’t something that’s easy but they have to start exploiting mismatches more often.

-

Casey out in Burlington, along with a handful of others, wonders:

Doug, would like to hear who you like as your final 4 in the NCAA tournament. Do you enter a bracket anywhere online? I like Yahoo's bracket manager, but their $5M cannot be won by Canadians. Any input where we can go online to win big?

I don’t have much input on where to go on-line to win; I’d start with The Score’s homepage since they’ve got the tournament and maybe they can link you up.

Now, I’ve probably watched 100 minutes of college basketball all year, and about 85 of those minutes came this weekend. And Super Son, who is the defending Kids Champion of this little pool run by a young bookie we know, hasn’t filled out his sheet yet.

But if the little fella asks me tonight, I’m thinking of steering him to North Carolina, Georgetown, Pittsburgh and UCLA.

I’m pretty sure as they each get eliminated some of you will remind me how dopey I am.

-

I’m going to ask this question of a couple of readers/writers out there: Is “objective reporting” only actually reporting the point of view you happen to agree with? It’s funny that people hold up examples of game stories and blog posts and mail answers as not being objective and then supply as examples of what they mean stories, posts and questions that are simply differing opinions?

It’s a fun part of the gig, I guess. And sure can make for entertaining ranting on a pre-game afternoon in a hotel room.

-

At the arena in Salt Lake, we sit elevated in the tunnel right by where the Raptors enter the court. At the end of the first quarter, I looked down and Rasho had his red shooting shirt on with his green shorts and he looked like a tired Christmas tree.

But you know what? The green uniforms didn’t look stupid. In fact, they looked all right. Not as a steady diet, I prefer red personally (generally matches my eyes), but they were a good shade of green.

-

One more in the mail and have to get this one in today ‘cause of time.

Q: Reading about Rafer's 31 3-pointers and all, the following question popped into my head: how many 3s will he try hoisting in the 1st quarter alone against Boston Tuesday? And on what Rockets possession will the first one come? If you were Vegas, what would your line be?  I say he puts up 4 3s in the 1st (more if he makes) with the first coming in the first 2 possessions.

I know he has been effective this year but I don't miss him at all.
Colin B, Bogota, Colombia

A: Gambling, I remind you, is the devil’s work and book-making is very illegal. I put the over and under at 3 1-2 in the first quarter and the first by two minutes.

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And I present this as a proud, very proud, former resident of the Niagara peninsula.

While this is not Raptors related, I wanted to make a point of writing in about the quality of the CIS Final 8 tournament held this past weekend. The Carleton-Acadia double-OT game was one of the best games I’ve ever seen and to see the Badgers as National Champions as a seven seed was a thing of beauty. At Brock $6 can get you courtside to see some great Canadian ball. I hope you’ll publish this not so much as a question, but as a public service announcement of sorts to your readers. Thanks Doug.

Kelly A, Hamilton

-

Finally, here’s how the Salt Lake Tribune summed up the big game.

Comments

[Chris Maguire]

Funny how Dougie doesn't mention the horrible game bargnani had 2 for 11 5 points 3 boards, I thought he was coming around? he's 6 for 25 last 3 games, but you always have some ink to write about Ford.

[Ellie]

I liked the green of the uniforms, too, but if they bring on TJ's fighting Irish spirit (literally), I'd rather see them mothballed.

[Chris]

I agree with all your comments regarding Ford, he is not right and its unfortunate they cannot trade him because they should, he is not right for this team, his true colors are showing night in and night out

Tks

[jeff smolkin]

Your point about the Utah crowd is a great one - I too was surprised when I heard the crowd on more than one occassion rally aruond the team during a Raptor run. The only difference could be is that this team hasn't lost at home in quite a while and are 20 games over .500. I am a big T.J. supporter but this last stretch of 6-7 games has been concerning. It would be interesting to see if his assist total would have been higher had he been the starter over this stretch. Either way, no team can afford to have selfish play and it seems to have affected all that is good around this Raptor team.

[Joe T.]

Easy one here: what do Carlos Arroyo, Mike James, Roger Mason and Jannero Pargo have in common? They're all capable backup point guards who used to play for the Toronto Raptors and are still currently in the league. As of this morning, Doug, Id' rather have any one of them on this team than T.J. Ford. And no, I've never sent in a T.J. rant before or, in fact, been opposed to him being part of our point guard tandem. But this road trip has been the last straw for me. With his trade value already low due to his contract and health, he's now found a way to lower it even further -- poor play. Although it would be unfair to say he lost any games on his own, this being a team sport and all, I think it IS fair to say that he singlehandedly took us out of 3 games we had a shot at winning. And that's simply appalling. Heck, at least when Mike James tried to take over a game, he had the shot to do it! What concerns me most about T.J., though, is that I have not seen evidence of a growth in maturity during his stint here. His play dictates that he should be the backup but since his ego can't handle it and his attitude on the court has become very detrimental to the team, I think the point guard tandem days need to end here in Toronto. So with this situation in mind, I have a couple of questions for you:

1. What current NBA players can you think of who are playing backup roles on their teams right now but would probably be starters anywhere else and are "happy" with their status? (Manu Ginobili comes to mind immediately!)

2. Bryan Colangelo has just called and told you that he wants you to set up a deal to get rid of T.J. and help this Raptors team. What deal do you propose?

3. It seems every time we play Washington, Roger Mason torches us in the fourth quarter with strong play and 3-point shooting. What would it take to get him back in a Raptor uniform backing up Jose? (Bonus points if you can find a way to bring Jamison over with him!)

Thanks for reading.

Blogger's note: I'll get those questions into a mailbag, just got in after a 9-hour travel day and have about a billion posts to put up. Oh, and a story to write.

[Zack]

To be fair Chris, Bargnani didn't get ejected last night.

And while I agree that last night's blow-up had been culminating over the last few weeks, you have to admit Doug, the refs were not giving TJ any love last night.

[CARLoS M.]

I don't get the Marketings folks at MLSE. Okay, the green uniforms seem like a cute way to try and sell more jerseys but it's not like they advertised them. The game wasn't even on regular TV. So if I didn't read this blog, I'd be all confused when I saw pics in the morning paper or TV highlights. Why go through the effort of creating a third jersey, use it exclusively at an away game, and limit the potential customers to only those viewers with Raptors TV.

Yet another misguided example of MLSE people with their heads up their you know what, instead of focusing on improving the in-game product they give fans this sad, sorry, attempt.

Maybe I will get a green jersey with TJ's # and "Ejected" on the back to remind myself of this miserable day. Hmmmm... they may be on to something here

[D.A.]

Doug, you've been a tireless defender of T.J. Ford for a long time, but maybe you're starting to finally admit he's a cancer. Bottom line, all successful programs insist on certain standards of behaviour, and no successful program would tolerate T.J.'s horrible style of play. Coach Mitchell tolerates it, because T.J. is still playing. He's an embarrassment. Most of his teammates see it pretty clearly. The Toronto media, some fans, and the head coach have been amazingly slow to finally see something that was painfully obvious in the first couple of games that Ford played in a Raptor uniform.

[Mikey]

Those refs in Utah were NOT CALLING ANYTHING last night unless your jersey had JAZZ printed on it. TJ shouldn't have flipped but that last call was not a charge.

And why is everyone saying TJ hasn't been playing well? Sure he doesn't look 100% but last night he set up his teammates numerous times and most of the shots they took were bricks. I hope TJ gets traded into a system that utilizes his talent and provides him with teammates who can actually handle playing with a point guard of that caliber. Then we will see where the Raps are the first time Jose gets injured and Roko Ukic gets the majority of the PG minites. I got your back TJ!!

End of rant.

[Andy Wu]

Hey Doug, I recall you wrote that there is no reason for Rasho to dunk over a layup because both are worth 2 points. Technically you are right, but how about the message that Rasho is sending to the rest of his team? This Toronto team is missing some fire for a reason, and the bench is quiet for a reason. The team is missing that mean guy to fire everyone up. I also recall once a while when Bosh puts in a thunderous dunk, the whole team goes nuts and all of a sudden to team seem to be all pumped. So the bottom line is that it does matter whether you dunk or simply lay it up, even though both are still worth 2 points. :)

[Jamie]

I actually enjoyed seeing TJ get fired up last nite...we shouldnt knock his energy, in the last few games, he is the only one who has showed any...on a side note...personally i thought the green unis were actually really ugly, and usually i wouldnt really care about that kinda stuff, but what a stupid cash grab for no good reason at all...if you are going to do a 3rd jersey, then do one that actualy makes sense...maybe a silver jersey with red & black trim, or a black jersey with r/s...i dont know, but they really were ugly...

[leigh]

TJ needs to grow up and stop being so selfish and thinking only of himself. Doug, you made a good point a week or so ago asking "us" how we would feel if we were in a role, we got sick, missed some time and then when we came back to work, the guy in other cubicle had taken over the main part of our job. Sure, your ego would take a hit.
But right now, it looks to me like TJ is just trying to show Sam that he should be starting, and he's being very selfish in his play. He's keeps trying to 'school' the other teams 2nd point guard(Arroyo last week, Price last night) but they are giving him as good as he gives them.
He should get in touch with Mike Miller who won the 6th man award a couple of years ago. His approach to a role off the bench was exactly the way it should be and when asked about it he said something like 'I'm here to do a job, whatever it is that the team asks me to do'.
TJ could learn something from this.

[gabriel a]

good subtle post doug! the next days will show wat TJ, Sam are made of. my call is tj will get it together...there's no way to go but up....

[Shawn]

Funny how he doesn't mention the horrible game by Rasho, or Delfino. Or maybe the mention the defense they didn't play for stretches. While we're at it why didn't he mention the great D first 3 quarters, or Calderon's good play again for the first time in some time. Come to think of it, Doug should have mentioned all of this, what was he thinking. Hey chris why don't you either write a constructive comment or take your opinion elsewhere so intellegent fans do not have to waste their time on it.

[ET]

I really thought Bargnani would step up in the absence of Bosh. But his play has gone downhill on this trip for sure. Unfortunately he is back to his early season form. Very disappointing!

[Mark]

Chris, There are 4 issues as to why the raps are losing.

1) Chris Bosh is hurt.

2) Bargnani has become a 7 foot version of Bryce Drew.

3) Jamario Moon is playing like he is Jackie Moon.

4) TJ Ford is reminiscing me alot of when Rafer Alston was in a Raptor Uniform.

[Andre A.]

How come the Raps can't trade TJ?

Do you see both PG (Calderon & Ford) in Raps uniform next season around this time? I think no..

Blogger's note: Can't trade him now 'cause the trade deadline is come and gone until the playoffs are over.

[Uncle Zeke]

Hey Doug just wanted to get your thoughts on Rafer Alstons current play for the Rockets... Remember when there was a time that everyone was lauding what a steal Mike James for Rafer was? Was wondering if anyone has asked for Sam Mitchell's comments on Rafers recent play? Thought it could provide for some interesting contrast in comparing Mitchell's "tough-love" coaching style with other more supportive structures. Do you think the type of players Raptors have (aka Bargnani) would benefit more from a coach like Rick Adelman?

Blogger's note: Let me get at these in the mailbag, I have a lot of comments to post, a couple of newspaper items to write and a family to re-introduce myself to for a while

[Jason Ohashi]

Why do they have to play so poorly? Not an actually question, just so painful to watch all these games because they kept getting blown out.

Doug, I don't think people know what the word objective means.

[Scott]

Good call on the fans. Nothing irritates me more than booing a home team in-game. If they get blown out, sure boo them as the game winds down.
Some homecourt advantage they have. When the team really needs our support, we turn our backs on them. Booing a struggling team just makes it worse. Support can sometimes provide just the motivation needed to turn it around.

[Jason]

Doug, can we get a little love for Kapono? I thought he did a good job of holding onto Ford and preventing the situation from getting any worse. Does Kapono have a sort of leadership role on the team? He seemed the most involved in trying to calm Ford and get him to the bench.

Blogger's note: Anyone would have done the same thing for T.J., Kapono was the closest. But he and T.J. have forged a good relationship on the court.

[Ross M]

Looks to me that both Jose and TJ need Chris Bosh on the floor to make their games go. If that's the case we won't go far with what we have today's team. We are an OK team. The GOOD teams can match up against Chris and the VERY GOOD teams match up even when they don't have all of their top players available. I don't think we should get too excited about this lineup. It still needs one or two pieces to move up to the GOOD and VERY GOOD categories.

[dk]

It makes me sick how much heat some people recieve from the fans and Bargnani gets little to none. We need Bosh to rip into him again just like last year.

[GM]

Maguire, I think there was "ink" for Ford because Bargnani wasn't a factor, win or lose. You have to admit Ford was the biggest factor last night. Even before the outburst. Calderon first went out with a four-point lead. When he came back in it was a ten-point (or more) deficit. Calderon's group then brought it back to within one before Ford took a chainsaw to it, and there's the game.

As to your objectivity question, every reporter has a bias. But as long as you acknowledge the other point of view, and make it clear when giving an opinion that it's simply that, then you're okay.

So glad to see Carleton's reign end. They were getting too close for comfort to UVic's run of seven straight national titles.

[Mike]

For those T.J supporters out there here's a look at what this supposed starter has done in the last 8 games during crunch time.
(I took the stats form the point at the end of 3rd/begining of 4th when T.J. entered the game until he checked out or the game ended. The first number is the Raps point differential when he entered the game, the second number is when he checked out or the game ended, the 3rd is the point differential in the time T.J. was in and last number is the game +/- from the boxscore.)

Utah | 0|-12|-12|-21|
Sac |-10|-8 | 2| 2|
Den |-30|-32| -2|-16|
G.S. | -7|-11| -4| 2|
LAL | -7| -9| -2| -6|
SEA | 6| 9| 3| 5|
Was | 6| -6|-12|-14|
Orl | -5| -9| -4| -1|
Total |-47|-78|-31|-49|

The 2 worst in my opinion were
1) Orlando where he was literally the only one who took a shot for 7 minutes and was the only player to touch the ball on over half of the possessions during that time
2) Utah where he gets caught up in a one-on-one with Ronnie Price(a backup point guard) and allows himself to get beaten backdoor on a couple of possessions while once again dominiating the ball on offence turning the ball over and missing shots while not getting anyone involved.

I have read a couple of comments in the past few weeks were some have said of course he is shooting so much because no one else can hit a shot. I disagree, no one else is hitting because no one bothers to move anymore when they are on the court with him, they just stand and watch because they aren't going to see the ball anyways and when they do see the ball it is in a short clock situation or in no position to do anything with it. He is really stagnating the offence, is clearly not mature enough to handle his new role and is taking the team down with him.